Saturday 11 April 2020
Studying the upcoming weather, we
find that the Gulf of Mexico is unsettled until next Friday. We could continue the march getting to the
Tampa Bay area by, say Monday, only to sit around at anchor using our limited
water supply and being bored or waiting a few days here in Fort Myers Beach
tied up to Salty Sam’s Marina with all the water we want. Our plan now is to leave Tuesday morning and
motor up through Pine Island Sound passing favorite places like Cabbage Key and
anchor just off the channel after about 50 miles of travel. Assuming the forecasted weather window
remains in place we would end up anchored in the Manatee River on the south
side of Tampa Bay on Wednesday ready to cross the bay the fifteen miles over to
Egmont Key late on Thursday all set for an early jump-off for the 24-hour run
to Carrabelle. The complex including our
current marina caters to touristy type stuff with activities such as casual
dining in a tiki-style thatched roof dining room, pirate ship tours, kayak
rentals, boat and pontoon boat rentals and others. Dining and pirate ship activities are shut
down now, but kayaks and boats were being rented today. With the weather being a bit iffy, the marine
activity out our windows seems a bit muted.
Today I took the searchlight apart to look at its grungy reflector. It is a 9-inch diameter parabolic reflector
mirror which has become fungus etched and needs replacement or
re-silvering. I did a little bit of
research and recommended to the owner that re-silvering may be the best
approach. Fuel was transferred to the
wing/day tanks from the belly tank via the fuel polisher in quantity sufficient
to see us through the end of this trip.
The engine oil was topped up, the mast was lowered for the coming low
bridges, and the boat is ready to go again.
I went to the ship’s store this morning to discuss our two-day extension
and found a number of people in line (about six feet apart) to rent kayaks or
boats and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and left to
continue my social distancing campaign – I settled the issue on the phone later
on.
